Lovely Monday: Herm and Norma

Advice to the masses: Don't for one minute think that you marry a person as a separate entity from their family. The mafia, the Mormons, and your grandmother are right: You marry the family. And I couldn't be happier to have married into the family of The Mister of the House. I hereby present, on this Lovely Monday, the lip attachment of his DNA contributors, otherwise known as my kids Grandparents, and The Mister's parents.



Although I asked them to pose for this shot, it couldn't have turned out more authentic. She's just breathing him in and he's pulling her in close, cherishing her at the same time. I think I can safely say that they're sharing an inside joke that might go something like this:

These young kids don't know much about love, but it's sure cute to see them try. Remember when our "Mister of the House" was a teenager who couldn't even bear to go on family vacations with us? Let's just cross our fingers that all these grandkids will see all the sights and know all the love we have for them, and that their parents (our kids) will make it through wiser, happier, and more in love.

So I can't help define "their love" and how it's unique without keeping it in context of The Mister of the House, he being the oldest of seven children (you heard me, seven!) and a very lost and lonely soul from about 14 to 20-something.

Well, he made friends and enjoyed his hobbies, it's not like his entire life was a void of course, but a part of him was searching for spiritual peace during that time (and he looked for it in a lot of stupid places). He and his parents seemed to go through their own evolution together...and yet I think it was the love of these people with unique names, this Herm and this Norma, that eventually brought my husband back to his true self. His self as a son of a Heavenly Father who desperately desperately loved him.

Throughout those years his parents were always happy, truly happy to see him and hear how he was doing. While there was disappointment in the path their son was leading, they laid off the "How dare you!" or "You were raised better than that!" speeches (He was well into his teenage years by then, so I can still give those speeches to my very impressionable young kids thank you very much).

But anyway...

Apart from being an anchor to a wayward son, what makes their love unique?


He absolutely spoils her every Christmas even though she's not your diva-mom that would expect that type of thing. She puts on a major spread on the dinner table for most of her family every Sunday, all the while being shadowed by her man cleaning her trail in the kitchen (there's just something about a man who can clean a kitchen that will always win a place in my heart). He is an overworked attorney, and yet never seems to bring the stress of his job back home, and is quick to squeeze his Norma even after a crazy day at the office. She works hard to install lots of crazy and memorable traditions for her family throughout the year, and with all her careful planning is happy to sit back and let her man preside over the family with love and wisdom. There's something so daring about that in our modern day society. And they make it work because they adore, love, and respect each other. And their kids.